UC began allowing campuses to keep out-of-state tuition money starting in 2008. Systemwide, the amount that campuses spent on recruitment promptly shot up: It was $900,000 in 2010, and by 2014 it was $4.5 million.

That was a good investment, considering that out-of-state students’ tuition totaled $728 million in fiscal 2014 — more than double the $325 million of three years earlier.

With that kind of sales record, if UC issued stock, we’d all be buying.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross